


Spark

by dogandmonkeyshow



Series: Watson's Woes JWP 2017 fics [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Melancholy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 16:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11383593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogandmonkeyshow/pseuds/dogandmonkeyshow
Summary: An old friend reminds John of something missing in his life.





	Spark

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Watson's Woes DW comm's July Writing Prompts daily challenge, prompt #2: _Summer in the city_.

John sprawled along the sofa with a groan. Rosie had just turned two and he was already having trouble keeping up with her; how was he going to cope when she was six? Or eight? He refused to contemplate what the teenaged years of someone with half his DNA and half Mary's would be like; there was only so much angst he could cope with at the moment.

His eyes drooped and in his head he chided himself for letting himself get comfortable; the last thing his back needed was another night passed out on the sofa after telling himself “just five more minutes” in front of the telly. As he levered himself back into a sitting position his phone rang. He didn't recognise the number, but that wasn't unusual in his circle of acquaintance.

“Hello.”

“Hi John.” He was wide awake now. “It's Clara.”

“Of course. Hi, how are you?”

“Fine.”

“Where've you been? It's been—” John racked his brain to try and remember when he'd last spoken to his former sister-in-law.

“New York for the last few years. I'm in town for the week, thought I'd give you a call.”

“Great. That's—great.”

“I was wondering—would you like to get together for dinner?”

“Sure, yeah. It'd be great to catch up.”

“Okay. How about tomorrow? I know it's short notice—”

“No, that's fine. Tomorrow'd be great.”

After deciding where they'd meet up and when, John hung up, suddenly a lot less tired. He could feel the grin on his face; he touched it briefly as if confirming it was really there, then slumped back on the sofa. Clara. “Wow,” he muttered to himself, before moving on to who he would ask to take Rosie for the evening.

~ + ~

Dinner with Clara turned out to be just what John had expected (and hoped for): good food, too much wine, and lots of laughter. It was one of London's sultry July evenings, so Clara had pleaded most winsomely for one of the much-coveted tables in the tiny garden behind the restaurant, and as no one John knew could plead as winsomely as Clara, they'd got their wish. John suspected they were the only couple in the garden not on a date, which drew a laugh from Clara when he pointed it out to her.

The heat of the evening, the slivers of pink and purple sky glimpsed between buildings, the women in sundresses—John realised summer had arrived without him even noticing. It felt like being in another world, out in the city at night and not on a case with Sherlock, and John realised he liked it.

So as the evening progressed, John gave himself over to the seductions of the heat and the booze and the good conversation with the beautiful and witty woman who'd always been too good for his drunken mess of a sister. He couldn't help admiring how well she looked; though pushing forty she could still pass for thirty. Seven years without Harry had long-repaired the vivaciousness John remembered from when he'd first met her twelve years before.

After the restaurant they decided to head for Little Venice, braving the tourists and the mosquitoes to stroll along the popular canal-side pathway. They ate gelato and traded stories of life in London and New York and at one point John realised Clara was flirting with him. There was a time, long ago—before Mary, even when Clara was still with Harry—when he'd have taken up that unspoken offer without a thought. But his days of mindlessly jumping into bed with any attractive, willing woman were long over. Clever as she was, Clara knew what his momentary hesitation meant, and she took it with the good grace that John had always admired in her.

Regardless, the kiss on the cheek John gave her when he dropped her off at her hotel was entirely heartfelt, and he couldn't help lingering a moment. 

“I had a great time,” he said, his hands still loose on her shoulders.

“Me too.”

“You planning on coming back soon? We should do this again.”

“I hope so. I'd love to meet your little girl; she sounds wonderful”

“She is; perfect in every way.”

They both laughed, then said their good-byes. 

Walking back to the Tube, John realised how much he'd missed female companionship in the two years since Mary's death. He'd gone on a few dates in the last six months, but none of them had “stuck”. It wasn't as though he had no women in his life, of course. He had Molly, but she was like a little sister or favourite colleague. He had Mrs Hudson, who mothered him more than he remembered his actual mother ever doing. He even had Sherlock's mum, a peripatetic presence in their lives, but she was more guardian dragon than friend. What he really missed was _this_ : spark, flirtation, being appreciated as a _man_ , not as just a friend. He missed the hint of possibility, the little twitch at the back of your throat when that someone looks you straight in the eye and you're suddenly afraid to make a fool of yourself. And if he'd been able to overlook the realities of his life he might have been able to find it again tonight, even if just for one night.

But Clara was one of the few women he could never pursue that with. Not for Harry's sake, but because Clara was normal and would never understand him and his life. But the memory of that tiny moment of fantasy would stay with him for a while. John had long known it was unlikely that lightning would strike twice for him; he's been incredibly lucky with Mary, regardless the problems she'd dragged into their marriage. 

But he still had one special young lady waiting for him at home, and with only a twinge of wistfulness he descended to the Tube to make his way back to her.


End file.
